Love’s Choice

by Karin Syren

Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]
1 Corinthians 13:8 AMP

Throughout the Old Testament, we are witness to the constant struggle of God’s own chosen ones to keep faith with their Jehovah, the God of relationship; there is a struggle to maintain the special connection, the covenant that He Himself initiated and into which He invited them.

The Law was given them for this very purpose.  (See Exodus 20)  Observance was intended to keep them holy, to sanctify them and set them apart from all others as God’s own, in familial relationship with Him.  It served to brand them not only as His peculiar treasure, His precious possession (Psalm 135:4; Deuteronomy 26:18; Malachi 3:17), but by its observance, as fully righteous in His sight.

In the New Testament, we are introduced to a new Way to attain this righteousness of the Law, not removed from the Law, but removed from the letter of the Law and into the heart, the very spirit of the Law.  (See Matthew 5-7)

Put it all together and it still seems like more than we can manage.  That’s because it is!  Even the Apostle Paul admitted as much, “in my flesh, I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it.” (Romans 7:18).

Until we see for ourselves that the Law, in its entirety, as presented in the Old and New Covenants, is the Law of Love, we cannot hope to achieve, much less be the Righteousness of God.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)  Our only hope is to know that God is Love (1 John 4:8, 16) and Love is the key.

This Love is no mere human emotion, but the God kind of Love, Hesed in the Old Covenant and Agape in the New Covenant (see End Note).  What’s more, this Love is within every Christian (Romans 5:5) and we are meant to evidence this to the world. (Matthew 5:13-16; John 13:35; Romans 2:13)  The fruit, the evidence to the world, is the visibility of the Law of Love in action. (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27)

We have a detailed guide to recognizing this Love and to checking our own daily Love walk in 1 Corinthians 13.  Read chapters 12 through 14 in their entirety for the full context, and then concentrate on the picture painted by chapter 13.  There is no escaping that the Law of Love requires no less than the God kind of Love from each of us! These verses allow us no variance on that.  It seems completely impossible until we realize we already have all that we need to do all that Love requires of us.

Try this simple exercise for 30 days and watch your capacity for Agape Love grow.  Each day, read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 three times aloud, as a confession, in the following way.  (This is particularly effective when read from the Amplified Bible translation available on numerous websites.  BibleGateway.com is a good one.)

First, read it first straight from the text, exactly as translated.

Then, since God is Love and, therefore, Love is God, the second time you read it, replace the word Love (“charity” in the King James) with God.

Finally, if you are a Christian, you have God living inside your spirit, in the form of the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 3:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 6:19).  You already have the God kind of Love available in your heart (Galatians 5:22) and you are empowered to walk in it.  So, the third time you read the chapter, begin by saying “therefore” and substitute your own name, or “I”, whichever you prefer as you read.

There’s no mystery or magic in this exercise. It is simply a statement of what the Bible says is true and a reminder that we were never meant to walk out the Law of Love in our own power.  This is the evidence that though God asks the impossible of us, He has already given us all that we need to do all that He asks.

Love is a choice – choose it!

• Confession: I am an ambassador of the Law of Love to the world, filled with Hesed/Agape.  I will let my light so shine before men that they, seeing my good works, will glorify my Father, the God who is Love itself.  (See Matthew 5:16 KJV)

[Note:  Hesed, often translated as mercy or lovingkindness, appears 250 times in the Old Testament and Agape, translated as love or charity appears 116 times in the New Testament. Consider a study of Hesed and Agape, using your Strong’s Concordance.]